For background

It started out as an idea. Then it became real.

I learned about this opportunity after reading a bit about the Justice Conference, a conference that highlights organizations and leaders who are committed to social justice issues, in February. Reading away on the site, I came across this medical non-profit organization that I thought had great creatives, an interesting story and valuable work. I spent a good amount of time researching at night to learn more about their work, their approach to the work, and pretty much ... what they're all about. I was impressed and interested, and wanted to head to Philadelphia for the conference to meet a part of their team and learn more. However, due to my low graduate budget, I was not able to attend the conference. Instead, I connected with them elsewhere: I hopped on Twitter and began following the leaders and the organization for updates about their work and other interests.

I spent quite a bit of time researching PLC and its work.

After a few posts, I could tell that they genuinely cared about patients and were committed to a long-term goal, so I began to think about how my skills could be used so I could help and also learn about health communications from their perspective. I met with a few people from school, and then reached out to PLC to see if they would be interested in customizing a graduate level internship here (home) or there (Iraq), depending on whatever would be easiest for their team, and if they didn't have anything, I requested an informational interview or contacts of other organizations doing similar work. When I sent off the email, I was not sure if I would even get a response, but that was definitely not the case because I got an immediate response and then soon after, a request for an interview.

"Do you have time for a Skype interview in the next few days?"

Shocked, and excited that they even responded to little ol' me, I wrote back. I said something like, "Yes! My availability is as follows ...," even though I should have responded with "No, I don't have time for a Skype interview in the next couple of days." It was the week of Midterms, and I was swamped.

But my quick response of "Yes!" shows that my excitement definitely won, and I'm glad it did.  The Skype interview was a success. They were able to learn a bit about me and my interests, and I was able to learn more about their team and their work. I loved that they were open to questions, transparent in answers and committed to community development that would work long-term. And it was encouraging to hear that they were excited to work with me. When I heard this, it made me smile. They were excited?

"I'm excited you're excited!" I responded, being classic me. 

Feeling slightly embarrassed about this quick response, I knew it was time to wrap up the conversation. I couldn't help but laugh (And they did too. Thank goodness). I realized that I was in need of sleep, so I wrapped up the rest of the chat, said "goodbye" and headed to bed.

When I woke up, I had a hard time focusing on my studies. I was hopeful. I started to think that maybe I should really try to pursue this opportunity. So I shared the news with a few others to continue to feel it out. And, as expected, I faced a lot of discouragement. However, unexpectedly, 

 the encouragement outweighed the discouragement.

This is when this simple idea of "wouldn't it be great if..." became very real. I knew I had a new adventure ahead of me, and it was going to require a lot of work, persistence, courage and strength. I was excited and yet scared.

...but mostly excited :-)